Not all managed care organizations (MCO's) are equally committed to improving the quality of the patient care they provide. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to establishing quality standards for MCO's and to reviewing and reporting on the status of individual health plans, so that patients, payers, physicians, and other interested parties may make informed decisions when choosing among plans. The authors describe the mission of NCQA as well as ways in which physicians may be affected by or directly involved in the health plan accreditation process.